EXITO Program Trains the Next Generation of Health Equity Researchers
Text of Article
A new program at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences, launched by Dean Carlos Crespo in 2022, is offering undergraduate students an opportunity for three years of specialized study, mentorship and hands-on research experience. Called Enhancing Cross-disciplinary Innovation and Training Opportunities (EXITO, which means “success” in Spanish), the program aims to cultivate leaders who can improve health and social systems in communities that most need it. The first cohort was comprised of nine students from the AHS disability and human development, kinesiology, nutrition and rehabilitation science programs.
“We need to recruit students from the places where health disparities are, give them the same opportunity as students from other places and then encourage them to address their community’s problems better than anyone else can,” Dean Crespo said.